1. Field
The present disclosure relates to recognizing the content of encrypted information, and particularly encrypted digital computer files, using multi-user input via a computer system.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of digital files are encrypted or otherwise protected for copyright, Digital Rights Management (DRM), or other security purposes. One characteristic of protected files is the inaccessibility of information content contained within the file, except to an end user possessing the necessary decryption key and/or decryption algorithm. Consequently, it is generally necessary to open and decrypt the protected file to accurately determine its content. This requirement may be undesirably burdensome when dealing with a large number of protected files. In such an environment, it may become very difficult for the user to locate particular content in one or more protected files, without knowing beforehand the file name or other unprotected identifier for the file containing the desired content.
These problems may become exacerbated when content files are received from various different sources. When files are obtained from a single source, the source may implement a file naming convention, provide unprotected content-identifying metadata associated with each file and/or provide an unprotected file index, each of which may simplify locating desired content. However, when files are obtained from different sources, such solutions may become less effective, as there is no generally adopted standard for identifying content within protected files. Thus, a user may be unable to locate desired content within a library of protected files obtained from various sources, or may find it overly time-consuming to do so. Many users may accumulate large libraries of protected content digital files stored in computer-readable media from many different sources. Therefore, many users may face difficulty in locating specific content contained in protected files of such libraries.
As used herein, a “file” or “digital file” refers to a set of electronic digital data of determinate size that is encoded in a computer-readable storage medium and referenced by a file name or similar identifier in a directory or similar data structure for the storage medium. As such, a file is clearly distinguished from a packet or other transient data set transmitted via a carrier wave. Information contained in a file and file metadata may be transmitted using a carrier wave, for replicating the file in a different storage medium. Although such transmission and replication may sometimes be referred to as “transmitting a file,” this use of terminology does not negate the essential character of a file being a discrete data set encoded in a storage medium.